OUR MISSION

We are a special-purpose nonprofit that promotes sustainable economic development by facilitating reuse of commercial, industrial, and mining sites and providing long-term management of key risks from legacy environmental concerns.

WHAT WE DO

We collaborate with public, private, and non-profit entities to operate three main programs:

Land Stewardship Services

The WVLSC can monitor and maintain sites that have been remediated pursuant to a state or federal environmental program, including brownfields, underground storage tanks, closed landfills, open dumps, hazardous waste sites, and former mining sites with ongoing water treatment. This oversight ensures that the legal and/or physical measures (formally known as institutional controls and engineering controls) taken to minimize exposure to contamination effectively protect West Virginia’s people and its environment. Engaging the WVLSC as either a short- or long-term steward allows responsible parties and property owners to satisfy their perpetual obligations without shifting focus away from their primary business.

The WVLSC is also qualified under IRS rules to hold conservation easements exclusively for conservation purposes. It can be the named holder of the easement and the long-term steward that monitors and maintains the easement in perpetuity.

Land Bank

The WVLSC Land Bank can take legal title to commercial real estate with known or perceived environmental issues and facilitate clean-up through environmental assessment, remediation, building demolition, or other efforts. After addressing all environmental issues, the WVLSC works with state and local government, local development authorities, and/or private entities to sell remediated properties for uses that stimulate the economy and fit with local development goals. If you have a property that may be a good fit for our Land Bank program, please contact us for a pre-application conference.

Site Certification

The WVLSC’s enabling legislation authorizes it to (a) establish standard criteria for site certification, (b) inventory and maintain a central repository of information on available commercial sites, and (c) certify sites as ready for redevelopment within 12 months and as “project-ready” for particular types of businesses. This effort helps mitigate potential concerns about environmental conditions and facilitates the reuse of existing properties.

OUR HISTORY

West Virginia’s hilly terrain limits the availability of usable land. The State's rich industrial legacy of coal mining and chemical, steel, and glass manufacturing has left its mark on many prime pieces of real estate, creating additional barriers to development. In order to address these industrial legacies and promote investment and productive economic development, the West Virginia Legislature created the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation in 2013. We help facilitate the remediation of properties with real or perceived environmental issues that might otherwise be overlooked by private developers and local economic development authorities. (Read the full enabling legislation here.)